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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23133649">Rainfall</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/bbl8te/pseuds/bbl8te'>bbl8te</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ben &amp; Rose friendship, Ben Solo Lives, Ben has PTSD, F/M, Finn is Force-sensitive, Future Fic, Post-TRoS, Pregnancy, Rey is a working mom, Rey works too hard, Reylo Kids, Reylo babies, The Millenium Falcon - Freeform, Uncle Chewie, Uncle Wanwo, and kind of the best uncle ever, ben is a good dad, their daughter is rebellious</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 07:41:23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,125</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23133649</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/bbl8te/pseuds/bbl8te</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Ben and Rey are finally together, and the galaxy has found a tentative peace in the years after the war.</p><p>When Rey is called away, Ben struggles to rein in their increasingly powerful daughter.</p><p>[Formerly ‘What They Grow Beyond’]</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>62</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>TROS Reylo Fix-it Fics</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hi all! This is going to be a very short fic (I’m guessing 3 chapters). It was supposed to just be a Drabble of Ben being cute with a daughter but as always, I got carried away.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>All Rain has of her father is his hair. </p><p>Lots and lots of hair. Thick, black, and growing like a weed out of her little head. On those rare occasions where it’s loose, it hangs in a heavy curtain down the center of her back.</p><p>He struggles with styling it. He can’t do the elaborate buns and updos that Rey can. But he has perfected his braiding, and when he’s finished he pulls fresh flowers from a vase and adorns her hair with them. In the mirror she gasps and marvels and twirls so fast that a few come flying out.</p><p>Everything else of their daughter is Rey: hazel eyes, freckled skin, pretty little nose. She is too smart for own good and too curious to be left alone without an activity. She is also sweet, painfully so. She rains kisses on Ben, fills his office with paintings and marbles and whatever other little trinkets that catch her sharp eye.</p><p>He simply didn’t know that this kind of love was possible. Being with Rey—the complimentary piece to his soul—feels like coming home.</p><p>But Rain? She is the entire <i>galaxy </i>surrounding them.</p><p>“Ready to go, sweetheart?”</p><p>She nods and looks up at him, full of adoration for the man who puts flowers in her air. </p><p>Rain fits her little hand inside of his, and they exit the Falcon together.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>*</p>
</div>“I’m pregnant.”<p>Ben drops the datapad. It crashes to the floor of the Falcon with a loud clatter. Blood has drained from his face, bringing with it a cruel chill up his spine.</p><p>Rey is looking more and more unimpressed by his reaction and he scrambles for words.</p><p>“What? How?!”</p><p>She takes a decisive step towards him, leaving only a few inches between them. “You hardly leave me alone for more than a few hours at a time, and your first thought is <i>how</i>?”</p><p>Heat returns to his body, blooms on his chest like ray of sunlight. “No,” he murmurs. His hand finds her arm, stroking it so lightly that goosebumps break out on her flesh. “No, I guess I didn’t think it would happen so ...quickly.”</p><p>Rey has never been timid, not since the day he met her on Takodana, so many years ago. But the look she gives him now: face flushed, eyes a little misty…. it sucks all of the air right out of him.</p><p>“Is it okay?” Her voice is barely above a whisper.</p><p>“Yes. Yes. It’s more than okay, it’s…” he can’t think of the words to encompass the way his heart is roaring in his chest.</p><p>Rey takes his hand and flattens it against her abdomen, still too flat to properly announce her current state.</p><p>“Feel,” she suggests.</p><p>So he does, reaches out towards the Force and nearly collapses when he feels it reach back. This new life inside of Rey is a little piece of him and he’s reeling with the power of it.</p><p>A small, warm, little ball of light.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>*</p>
</div>If Ben thought he was hungry for Rey before, now he is ravenous.<p>Every night that he returns home to the Falcon, he can’t do anything else until he gets Rey’s clothes off. Some days he’s in such a frenzy that he shreds them to pieces.</p><p>“I don’t have many pairs that fit anymore,” she scolds him.</p><p>“I’ll buy you new ones. Now bend over, and don’t make me tell you twice.” He gives her backside a firm slap and she lets out a laugh. It warms him, even in this animalistic state. </p><p>He can’t get inside of her fast enough—foreplay and romance be damned—but if she’s not ready...</p><p>Ben groans when he touches her.</p><p>“You’re killing me,” he tells her. “You’re sopping wet.”</p><p>“I might have been a little impatient.”</p><p>He plunges himself inside of her and it feels like coming up for air.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>*</p>
</div>Rey’s friends have mixed reactions towards him.<p>He doesn’t blame them for it. He <i>can’t</i>. He still hates himself more than he will ever verbalize to his wife, still aches with the need to tear his own heart out. The little life inside Rey has quelled many of those urges, but it hasn’t completely stamped them out.</p><p>So, no. Ben can’t blame her friends. He simply tries to respect them by giving them space. If they never want to see his face, he understands. If they need his help with something, he jumps at the opportunity. If Poe wants to go drinking with him… well, he has no choice except to go.</p><p>And yet, nothing has scared him as much as the idea of Rey telling them that she is pregnant by him. He’s half convinced they will well and truly kill him for it.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>*</p>
</div>Rey wants to tell Finn, first. She opts to do it privately while Ben is on a separate task, on a different planet.<p>Finn has been the most difficult in accepting Ben’s continued presence in their lives. Rey takes it hard, doesn’t fully understand why the two most important men in her life can’t be in the same room together for more than a few moments.</p><p>But Ben gets it. Finn grew up in the First Order and witnessed many of Kylo’s cruelties up close. All Finn knows of Ben Solo is what Rey tells him. He hasn’t truly given himself the opportunity to know Ben, not yet. </p><p>He’ll wait as long as he has to for his wife’s best friend to accept him. He isn’t in a rush. Finn loves Rey fiercely, and that’s all that matters. He would lay down his life for her at a moment’s notice and that, at least, they have in common. </p><p>So even though Finn doesn’t trust Ben, Ben trusts <i>him,</i> more than he will likely ever know.</p><p>Finn has been leading the rehabilitation of the Stormtroopers, following the war. He’s been working alongside Lando, who’s dedicated his own life to tracking down the parents of each individual stolen in infancy. It’s a long road and complicated one, but Ben thinks they are the best people to be doing it. </p><p>When Ben lands the Falcon outside of their headquarters, the two men are already outside waiting for him. He fights an insane urge to run away.</p><p>Lando comes forwards, clapping his hands and laughing with his entire chest. “Ben Solo a father!” the old man shouts at him.</p><p>Ben tries to calm the nervous twisting and untwisting of his stomach as Lando pulls him into an embrace. The ones who knew his father well—Lando, Chewie—still have a way of provoking horrible anxiety in him. Even though they’ve both forgiven him, have talked to him extensively over it all, he still is never quite at ease with them.</p><p>He doesn’t think he ever will be.</p><p>Lando pulls back, his arms still clasped on Ben’s shoulders. “How are you feeling, Ben?”</p><p>Ben’s mouth is dry as he tries to think of what to say. He decides on honesty. “Terrified.”</p><p>Lando likes the response. He gives Ben a jovial pat on the shoulder. “That’s to be expected.”</p><p>Finn approaches him next, gaze still as hard and shrewd as Ben has always seen. Neither of them knows what to say.</p><p>Finn sticks out a hand towards Ben.</p><p>“Congratulations,” he tells him, and just for a moment Ben thinks he can feel the flicker of a connection in the Force. Finn has always been so closed off with him but he’d felt, just for a moment, the pathway between them open.</p><p>Ben seizes the other man’s hand firmly, gratefully, and thinks this is more than he could have ever hoped for.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The first time Rose met Ben, she’d done so with a blaster aimed at his throat.</p><p>“The First Order <em> ruined </em> my planet. They’re the reason I lost my parents, and they caused the war that took my sister from me. I don’t <em> like </em> you, I don’t care if you call yourself Kylo or Ben Solo. You fought for a side that ruined <em> millions </em> of lives and I’ll <em> never </em> forget that.”</p><p>Ben doesn’t say a word. The look Rose gives him makes him feel small.</p><p>The blaster is pressed flush against his neck. She is so much shorter than him— probably a whole <em> foot shorter— </em> but she doesn’t fear him, not even a little. He’s almost grateful for it. Anger he can take. He understands it and he <em> deserves </em> it.</p><p>But fear? He doesn’t know what he’d do with <em> fear. </em></p><p>Ben swallows roughly and her eyes dart to trace the line of his Adam’s apple. He watches the exact moment the fight drains out of her. Her arm slackens.</p><p>“I don’t know anything about Jedi, or Sith, or The Force. I definitely don’t understand whatever being a Dyad means. But I care about Rey. She’s important and good and for whatever reason she <em> needs </em> you around, and we need <em> her </em>.” </p><p>The blaster slides away from Ben’s throat and he releases a breath he didn’t know he was holding.</p><p>“She cares about you in a way that the rest of us don’t understand. We’ll probably <em> never </em> understand. The only reason we tolerate you is because of <em> her </em>.” Her shoulders sag, and there’s a moment of silence.  “I just wanted you to know that,” she finishes awkwardly.</p><p>Ben nods, belatedly. </p><p>“Aren’t you going to… <em> say </em> anything?”</p><p>His mouth opens and closes, considering his words. “I’m sorry,” he begins. He keeps eye contact with her, willing her to see his sincerity. “About your home. And your sister. I don’t know if my apology is even worth anything. It probably isn’t. I <em> know </em> it isn’t… but I <em> am </em> sorry. If you never want to see me, I understand. I just hope you don't punish Rey for… being with me.”</p><p>Rose breaks eye contact first, her eyes brimming with tears. She wipes them away furiously, seeming angry at herself.</p><p>“I know it’s not Rey’s fault. I’d never…”</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>“It’s just…”</p><p>“I know.”</p><p>Rose grimaces at him. “Stop being so understanding.”</p><p>They stare for a moment longer until finally, Rose sighs deeply. “I work here. On the third floor.”</p><p>He nods, dumbly. “I… Rey told me. Operations Center?”</p><p>She nods. “I’ll probably be seeing you around.”</p><p>“Oh.” They look at each other for a moment. “Okay. Good.” He kicks himself mentally. “I mean…”</p><p>“I know what you meant,” Rose mumbles. She walks away, then turns abruptly and heads towards him again.</p><p>“Wrong direction,” she mutters as she hurries past him.</p><p>“Right, yeah…” </p><p>Ben watches Rose’s tiny form storm down the hallway, blaster still in hand, and wonders if she isn’t the stronger of the two of them.</p><p> </p><p>*</p><p> </p><p>“I’ve got the new reports,” Rose tells him, waving the holopad in the air as she enters. </p><p>It’s been years since that first meeting, in the hallway outside of his office, but he hasn’t forgotten the feel of her blaster against his throat. </p><p>“Good afternoon to you too,” he tells her. He’s standing in the center of the room, swiping through formulas on a holographic screen of the console before him. </p><p>Rose wanders over to his desk and makes herself comfortable in his luxury chair. “How was the Senate meeting?” she asks, taking a bite out of one of the sandwiches she has brought for them.</p><p>“As well as any Senate meeting ever goes,” he tells her over his shoulder. </p><p>“Hmm. That bad?”</p><p>Ben shrugs helplessly as he inputs another number into the formula on his screen. “They don’t want me there, and I don’t want to <em> be </em> there. And yet they <em> insist </em> on having me around whenever someone so much as sneezes.”</p><p>Ben closes out the screen he was working on and heads back towards his desk. He takes the sandwich she offers him and begins devouring it, not realizing his own hunger until the food is in his mouth. </p><p>“You’re the last Skywalker,” Rose reminds him. “And you’re one of the heads of the military division of the New Galactic Alliance.”</p><p>“I just work in data projections... And my name is Solo, <em> not </em> Skywalker.”</p><p>“It doesn’t really matter that you don’t <em>want</em> to carry on the Skywalker legacy,” she continues, “You’re doing that just by being alive, <em>and</em> by knocking up my friend.”</p><p>Ben gives her a withering look, but she barrels on.</p><p>“Whether or not you want to be involved with the Force and … <em> everything </em> , you're already <em> in it </em>. And I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re just using this job as a means of keeping an eye on you.”</p><p>Ben sees the logic in her words, even though he doesn’t want to. Ironically, he’s spent so long <em> denying </em> that side of him that it’s been nearly impossible to think of anything else. He had gone so far as to support Rey’s desire to complete her own lightsaber, but he wouldn’t even entertain the idea of rebuilding his own.</p><p>“<em>Control </em> me is more like it,” he grits out. The reaction his body gives at the mere idea is visceral, rage thrumming hotly through his veins.</p><p>Rose reaches out a hand and pats him on the arm. “C’mon, sit down for a minute.” She gestures at the guest chair across from his desk, and he could almost laugh. He sags heavily into the smaller chair.</p><p>Rose leans forward, fingers interlaced and hands placed primly on his desk. “Tell me, Mr. Solo. Where do you see yourself in five years?”</p><p>Ben groans.</p><p>“I’m serious,” Rose insists, and <em> that </em> startles a laugh out of him. “Think about it. Rey is going to pop any day now. Have you guys even talked about what’s going to happen next?”</p><p>“Well, yes. And no.”</p><p>Rose raises a brow at him and he has no choice but to elaborate.</p><p>“She wants me to keep busy, like how she is. But after everything that’s happened, part of me <em> still </em> feels like I just want to run away from all this. This life of politics and military, it just… it isn’t me anymore.”</p><p>Rose ponders that, leaning back. She looks ridiculously small in his oversized chair. “Well, it’s not like you guys <em> need </em> the money. The galaxy is as much at peace as it’ll ever be, and even if it wasn’t, we can’t always depend on you two to handle our disputes. As long as the Force is balance— <em> whatever </em> that means—it’s probably time for the galaxy to stand on its own two feet.”</p><p>“Easier said than done,” Ben replies. “Not even <em> Rey </em> wants to pull out completely from the political world, and she hates this stuff even more than I do.”</p><p>“Yeah, but that’s just <em> Rey. </em> She wants to take care of everyone so badly that she doesn’t take the moment to consider if it’s interfering with what she really wants.”</p><p>Ben drags a tired hand down his face. Rose is right, about all of it, but it would take a miracle to get Rey to slow down.</p><p>“Maybe we can talk to her,” Rose offers. “Me, Finn, Kay, and the others. The Alliance is doing <em> really </em> well, better than they have in years. There are so many good people that we trust, in positions to make <em> real </em> change. Maybe it’s time for you and Rey to take a break and focus on your family.”</p><p>Ben levels a look at Rose, with her kind and open face, and wonders about her own ideas on settling down. </p><p>“What about you? Don’t you think it’s time <em> you </em> started a family?”</p><p>Rose barks out a laugh that surprises even him. “My personal life is none of your business.”</p><p>“But mine is <em> yours </em>?”</p><p>“You’re the one that isn’t getting any younger. You’re getting <em> awfully </em> close to forty.”</p><p>“Alright, get out of my chair,” he tells her, rising. Rose’s laughter carries all the way down the hall.</p><p> </p><p>*</p><p> </p><p>Rey has always been someone with intense feelings. It gives her a wide capacity for empathy, it makes her relate to people in a way that Ben often can’t.</p><p>It therefore doesn’t surprise him that pregnancy fuels that side of her ten-fold.</p><p>“Rey,” Ben says slowly. “Put the lightsaber away.”</p><p>She whirls on him, hair flying loose and messy. Her stomach is round in the last stages of pregnancy and hangs low on her lithe frame. It looks wildly uncomfortable to him and his heart squeezes with affection for her.</p><p>“It’s unacceptable!” she growls at him. “We told them what the taxes were for. We <em> told </em> them. They can’t just decide that because they don’t care about school themselves that they can just ignore their social responsibility-“</p><p>Ben puts a hand on her shoulder. “Lightsaber, off.”</p><p>She relents and the brilliant yellow fades, leaving them in the darkness of the Falcon again.</p><p>“We’ll figure it out in the meeting tomorrow.” He takes the lightsaber from her gently. “Tonight, we're going to sleep. Because you and <em> her—” </em>he puts a hand on her stomach, “—need to rest.”</p><p>Rey’s nose scrunches, wanting to argue but not having enough reason too. When he draws her into his arms, Rey melts against him like butter. He buries his grin in her hair.</p><p>“We’ll save the world tomorrow,” he tells her, pressing a kiss to her forehead.</p><p>“Promise?”</p><p>“I promise.”</p><p> </p><p>*</p><p>Rain is nervous. </p><p>Ben can feel her emotions as though they’re his own, and her anxiety is making a sweat break out on his own forehead.</p><p>“Sweetheart,” he tells her gently. “If you don’t want to go today, you don’t have to.”</p><p>“I want to,” she insists, with all the tenacity of the women who came before her. Amidala, Skywalker, and Organa, all rolled up into this tiny human being who still crawls into his bed when she has nightmares. </p><p>Ben prods deeper into her feelings and senses the steel resolve beneath the trepidation. He considers it best if he doesn’t try to stop her. </p><p>She’s wearing beige pants and a white tunic, tied at the waist with a brown belt. She looks every bit the little Padawan, save for the bright blue flowers in her hair.</p><p>The planet is green and beautiful, and Rain points out all of the different wildlife as they walk. She has a keen eye and an intense love of nature, cultivated by Rey’s own fascination with everything that isn’t desert sand. </p><p>As they crest the top of a hill, they’re met with the sight of the school. Multiple buildings, full of dormitories and classrooms, spread wide across the lush open field. The laughter of children is spilling out of every open window, and a group of them that are Rain’s age are taking turns levitating toy balls.</p><p>They spot Rey exiting the main entrance with a wide grin on her face. Rain releases Ben’s hand and makes a beeline for her mother. </p>
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